


The Turning of the Leaves

by Fix_writes_fics



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, and they were ROOMMATES, cursing, im new to tagging stuff on a03 so im assuming cursing is stil gen?, it's fall y'all, maaaan idk anything ignore my tag rambles, sometimes you just gotta get ur roommate to slow down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fix_writes_fics/pseuds/Fix_writes_fics
Summary: Sometimes you just gotta sit and be. Sokka gets this. Zuko...is starting to.
Relationships: Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	The Turning of the Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> just a short lil thing as the season starts to turn. unbeta'd, i just typed this out real quick. my muse knocked gently on my door and i gratefully let her in

Sokka sits by the window with a cup of chai. Zuko is doing something behind him in the living room, walking to and fro, occasionally cursing.

“Shit! Goddammit, not again… alright, c’mon, work with me here. Dammit!”

Sokka, without turning around, says, “You alright buddy?”

“Hm? Yeah, no I’m fine I just—FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” Sokka hears Zuko stomp over to the window seat and sees him plop himself down out of the corner of his eye. “Can you fix this?”

“Fix what?” Sokka says, still not turning towards Zuko.

“ _This_.” Zuko shoves something in front of Sokka’s face. When Sokka’s eyes adjust to the new depth they’re being asked to look at, he sees it’s Zuko’s cellphone.

“Your…phone?”

“ _Yes_.”

“What’s…wrong with it?” Now Sokka turns a bit in the seat to face Zuko. Zuko’s face is doing an impressive impression of a tomato and his teeth are gritted tight.

“I don’t know! That’s the problem, it just keeps. Shutting. Off. And making an annoying noise whenever I try to turn it back on, like a bee-bee-bEEP or something! I’ve tried everything other than throwing it out the window and, right now? That’s looking like the best option.”

Sokka frowns and takes the phone. Zuko loves this phone. He wouldn’t be happy after he threw it. “Let me take a look at it.” Sokka presses a few buttons, confirming the weird start-up noise and the subsequent shut off five seconds later. His frown deepens. “Huh.”

“Yeah.” Zuko sighs, slumping onto the other armrest. The window seat is comfortable, more of a bed than a seat, and Sokka can see it working its magic in Zuko. “Yeah.”

Sokka can think of three—no, four different things he could try that might bring Zuko’s phone back to life, but a look over at Zuko makes him pause. Zuko looks…he looks tired. Really tired. Dark circles hang under his eyes, his hair is limp with a slight unwashed sheen, and his skin is sallow. As Sokka observes him, Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose and shuts his eyes tight. A headache, Sokka guesses. Sokka purses his lips.

“You alright?”

“Hm? Yeah, yeah fine,” Zuko says. Sokka would be more inclined to believe him if he’d opened his eyes to say it. Sokka puts Zuko’s phone down.

“Okay.”

They’re both quiet for a few moments.

“Hey, what were you looking at?”

“What?”

“Before I came over. You were looking out the window at something.” Zuko’s looking at Sokka with his head tilted, a curious look in his tired eyes. He stretches his legs out on the window seat, groaning as his joints pop.

“Oh. I was just… I was looking at the leaves.”

“The leaves?”

“Yeah. Fall’s coming and the leaves are changing. I was watching.”

Zuko frowns. “You can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“Can’t watch the leaves change. It’s way too slow a process to observe; it’s like watching paint dry.”

Sokka smiles, turning his head back to the window and stretching his legs out in front of him. His knee brushes Zuko’s. “Not exactly.”

“Explain.”

Sokka tilts his head towards the window. “Look.”

Zuko raises his good eyebrow but obliges, turning his head to look out the window as well. Sokka tries to see it through his eyes. The window seat is in the living room and looks out on their front yard. “Yard” is a bit of a generous term for what it is, really; it’s a scrappy piece of land extending from their front stairs to the street a meter or two away. The grass is pretty shitty, and the dirt doesn’t allow for much to grow (Sokka’s tried) other than a tree that feels older than the house itself. It stands taller than both Sokka and Zuko’s heights combined, some of the branches gracing its middle brushing the roof of their one-story duplex. It's big enough, and their "yard" small enough, that its roots cause cracks in the sidewalk. The trunk is thick and the leaves plentiful, at least in summer. Now, though, as summer’s heat is giving way to a fall chill, the leaves are just starting to drop, swirling past the window in the wind. One of the branches droops to window height, occasionally gently tapping the glass. Its leaves are mostly green, but the rich color is losing ground to vibrant orange. Zuko isn’t wrong, exactly; the process _is_ a slow one. But…

“Sokka, what am I looking at.”

“Shh. Just, look.”

Zuko looks.

Sokka can feel the exact moment he gets it. He hears a soft “ _oh_ ” and a sigh escape Zuko’s lips; he can _feel_ the fight go out of the other man as he sits back and watches. The breeze blows past the branches; the leaves stir; a fat caterpillar inches its way across the leaf closest to their perch, its brown fuzz looking soft. Sokka sees Zuko reach out from the corner of his eye, fingers outstretched towards it.

Sokka takes a sip of his chai. He hears Zuko take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Their knees brush again.

“Still want me to fix your phone?”

“Nah. Let’s just…let’s just sit here a while.”

“Okay.” 

**Author's Note:**

> can u tell what my favorite season is? 
> 
> thanks for reading y'all! your comments sustain me, let me know what you think! and hit me up on tumblr @the-fixation-zone !


End file.
